Griffins advance to Division finals for first time since 2017
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — The Grand Rapids Griffins are the first team through to the next round of the AHL playoffs.
The Griffins punched their ticket to the Central Division finals Sunday night with a 4-2 win over the Rockford IceHogs to win the series 3-1.
Jonatan Berggren scored his third game-winning goal of the series and Sebastian Cossa slammed the door to keep the IceHogs at bay.
Rockford opened the scoring late in the first period, but the Griffins responded just 11 seconds later when Brogran Rafferty found Carter Mazur open in the left circle who rifled a shot past Drew Commesso to tie the game 1-1.
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In the second period, Austin Czarnik gave Grand Rapids the lead by beating Commesso stick-side from the right dot.
Early in the third, Berggren gathered a carom off of the end boards and tucked the puck into the top corner to give the Griffins a 3-1 lead.
With their backs against the wall, Rockford started to press and eventually clawed within one with 6:40 to play, but Cossa and the Griffins were able to play tight defense and burn the clock until Marco Kasper found the empty net with a backhander from center ice.
Coach Dan Watson was proud of his team for weathering Rockford’s final push in front of a raucous crowd. He says they will need to continue that effort to win a Calder Cup.
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“We are going to have to handle pressure as we continue moving on here in the playoffs. It’s going to get harder and harder. But it was a good learning experience for our young guys,” Watson told reporters after the game. “Our older guys, too, they did a really good job of settling the bench down, making sure everyone was calm and focused on what they needed to do.”
It is the Griffins’ first trip to the Central Division finals since they won the Calder Cup in 2017.
They will play the winner of top-seeded Milwaukee Admirals and the fourth-seeded Texas Stars. Texas is up 2-0 in the series, but Milwaukee returns home for the rest of the series. If Milwaukee is able to stretch the series to five games, Grand Rapids will go at least a week without game-action.
Game 3 between Texas and Milwaukee is scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday.
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